Cooking can be intimidating, especially when it isn’t something you normally do, but I promise, if you have a few tricks up your sleeve, you can make something delicious out of almost anything.

This is a good example.

I was hungry, and had lots of random veggies I’d bought because they had a good price. Well, I didn’t end up using them all and I hate to see things go to waste. So, I chopped them up and threw them in a covered skillet.

The catch? I special trick I learned not too long ago. Wash the spinach, and use the water still on it to steam it. Keep it covered for about 5 minutes and it’s done. Super easy!

Then, just add some cooked pasta, other chopped veggies you may have lying around, and mix them together with your favorite sauce.

Let me start off by saying I am so SO sorry! I made lentil stuffed red peppers last week and thought to myself, “I wish I hadn’t already posted about these because they deserve to be remembered!” Well, guess what, I never posted this recipe. Yes, I posted a different one for stuffed peppers, but that was nowhere near as simple as this one. And for holding out on you so long, I apologize.

The good news is that I’ve realized my selfish mistake, and I’m here with a healthy, easy, and conscious-clearing recipe!

First off, I want to explain why I love this recipe so much. It’s flexible. I tend to make this when I have no time, and produce that is going to go bad if I don’t make it. So, for this recipe, I tossed in some carrots and green onions, but feel free to add tomatoes, regular onions, potatoes (if you use potatoes, make sure to cook and boil them enough to be completely cooked through). This also makes it pretty inexpensive since you’re likely using stuff you already have in the kitchen.

Another reason I love this is that the peppers keep really well! I ate one of these each day, over three days, and it made for a quick and healthy lunch at work on Monday, as well as an easy dinner when I was feeling hungry and lazy on the second day.

Finally, and going back to my first point, you can make this recipe taste like almost anything you want, depending on the spices you use. I’ll give you the recipe for what I used this time, but honestly, I just rooted around in the cupboard to see what I could find. This recipe takes on a bit of a bland taste, but I also make these curried (basically just use curry, tumeric, and chili powder), Italian (use oregano, basil, and black pepper), as well as Mexican (chili powder, cayenne pepper, oregano).

So, now that I’ve written a novel on the many reasons I love this recipe, let’s get started…

LENTIL STUFFED PEPPERS

What You Need:

3 peppers (tops cut off)

1 cup lentils

water

1 tsp mustard seasoning

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp crushed black pepper (just whatever is in your shaker is fine)

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup baby carrots (chopped)

3 green onions (chopped, including the tops)

Panko bread crumbs (optional)

shredded cheese (optional)

What You Do:

Cook the lentils according to the package. I usually eyeball it, and just use water, but if you have veggie broth that is going to go bad, or if you just like veggie bread, then feel free to use that instead, or in addition to the water. But if all you have is water, that’s perfectly fine.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Halfway through the lentils cooking, add the carrots and white parts of the green onions, and continue to cook on medium heat, along with your spices

Once the lentils are cooked, stuff the peppers with them (you can give them a taste to see what other seasonings you need to add too)

Top the peppers with bread crumbs (optional) and shredded cheese (optional, but why wouldn’t you?! also, if you choose to use a different combo of seasonings, choose your cheese accordingly. For example, if I use Italian seasonings, I’ll use feta or parmesan cheese)

Bake the peppers for roughly 30 minutes (this doesn’t have to be precise. The longer they cook, the softer they’ll be, just keep an eye on the cheese to make sure it doesn’t burn)

Messiness – The prep for this isn’t hard, but it does take some prep, like the chopping. And you’ll need both a pot and a pan. But I still wouldn’t consider this a messy recipe, especially since it keeps for so long!

Simplicity – It’s a totally customizable recipe, which means some people will see it as difficult, but some will see it as simple. This recipe listed tastes hearty, like a stew, and is great with some bread, or not. Totally up to you. What I’m getting at is that this is as simple or difficult as you want it to be.

Budget – For me, this was super cheap since I already had most of the ingredients. Also, you can usually find peppers for pretty cheap. I used red ones, and they were 88 cents each, but you can use yellow, orange, or green. Totally up to you depending on what you like.

Deliciousness – Love this! Like I spent way too long telling you, this is an easy go-to recipe for me, and I couldn’t love it more!

I know that the majority of the country is dealing with a super harsh winter with snow and crazylow temps, but over here on the West Coast, it’s 80 degrees, and it’s time to start thinking about summer. For me, this means no more convincing myself that I need to eat ravioli every day (because it has protein so it’s okay!).

Luckily, some people out there are expert salad makers, and have lots of different ideas for how to put them together, and even to easily make them ahead in mason jars. What I like about these is that the portions are right, unlike when i toss a ton of foliage on a plate and enough toppings to match.

This is one salad I definitely plan to try soon: Spinach Salad With Mozzarella, Orzo, And Snap Peas

But there are so many more options out there! Buzzfeed in their wonderful way compiled a list of salads that look delicious and healthy, and best of all, EASY!

I’d love to hear any salad ideas you have as summer quickly creeps up on us pounces on us without warning!

These days, I’m looking for anything that’s quick, easy, and packs in a good amount of veggies. Luckily, I found just that!

For some reason, I decided I wanted to make some cold sesame noodles. I looked up several recipes, and found that a lot of them called for fancy ingredients that I just didn’t have, and didn’t want to buy. So, I got a list comprised of several ingredients, from several different sites, and made my own sauce that is amazing, but most importantly it’s cost-efficient. I wish it was on everything I eat!

And for you meat eaters, simply toss some chicken on this, and you’re good to go!

What I think I like best about this though, is that it’s equally as good hot as it is cold, making it a good addition for dinner, or a cold pasta salad for lunch.

1 TBSP canola oil (for the sake on consistency, can be removed if you aren’t a canola oil fan, just use light olive oil so it doesn’t change the flavor too much)

1-2 TBSP rice vinegar (optional)

What You Do:

Cook the pasta/noodles

While cooking, mix the garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar (I made it without the rice vinegar and it was still wonderful, so if you don’t have any, don’t let that keep you from making this) NOTE: start on the small end of the measurements because all of these ingredients have strong flavors. Taste it and decide how much to add of what

Prepare the bell peppers. No need to cook them, just slice them thinly.

Strain the noodles, then toss in your veggies and cilantro, top with the sauce. Depending on how much pasta you used, you will probably need to make another batch of sauce, but feel it out before you do.

Messiness – This is actually one of the least messy things I make that tastes this good. Just a pot to cook the pasta in, a cutting board, and a bowl to mix the sauce in.

Simplicity – SUPER simple. The good news is that you almost can’t screw this up. It’s just combining lots of wonderful flavors that compliment each other no matter what. The only things to be weary of are not going overboard on the sesame oil and the chili sauce for those with mild tastebuds.

Budget – This one ranks on my super cheap list. The sesame oil is around $5, so, a bit of an investment, but everything else should be right around $1 each, if not cheaper. The best part is that it makes a lot, lot, LOT of food. I’d venture to guess that I got at least 8-12 servings of pasta out of the package I used, and enough sauce for about half of that. All of this to say, there’s enough for a week of lunches and even dinners if I want.

Deliciousness – So yummy. I think the fact that it’s so simple just makes it taste better too!

Lately, I have been taught a lot of lessons in a short amount of time. But one of these has been more outstanding than the rest: I have no control over my life.

I’m not a control freak, in fact, I’m far from that, but I like to know what’s going on. I’m a planner, and I have a solution to every situation that can arise. However, I’ve learned that it is impossible to plan for everything. Impossible. We’ve all been thrown a curve ball here and there, something completely out of left field that we didn’t even know could happen.

When this inevitably occurs, what I’ve learned is that God, or whatever it is that you believe in, has the situation under control (personally, I believe in Jesus, and I’m happy to talk to anyone who has questions, but I don’t like forcing anything on anyone. Belief is a personal choice and should be treated individually as such. That’s just my opinion).

For me, I could never imagine the precise way that God has orchestrated my life recently, which made me realize, I need to give up complete control. There’s no point in even trying, when it is so clearly orchestrated, that I can’t even begin to fathom why God would spend so much effort on me.

Now, that also doesn’t mean I’m going to sit here and do nothing, waiting for life to happen. In fact, before writing this blog I made six To Do lists for my current projects.

Giving up control means continuing on with what you think you are supposed to be doing, but being open to variations, instead of letting them stress you out and make you anxious. I’m the type of person where an unplanned, spur-of-the-moment dinner plan can throw off my entire week. Why do I let that happen? A chance to connect with a friend can derail my plans for the week? How does that make sense?

Well, I’m here to tell you that God will derail the plans that you have for yourself, and you need to let it happen.

BUT I’m also here to tell you that if you’re like me, and you need control, you can still have it… over yourself. No matter what you’re dealing with, every day you can control how you react to situations. Maybe it’s an unexpected bill, and you’re not sure where the money will come from. Just trust in the ultimate plan, and control how you react to the situation. Maybe it’s a tantrum from your boss that causes you to stay late and miss yoga class. Again, you can’t control your boss, but you can control how you let the situation affect you.

So, this week, I challenge you to be controlling not of other people or situations, but of yourself. This week, try not to complain a single time about anything, or maybe you need to control giving into your impulses. Whatever it is, know that you can have control, while surrendering at the same time.

“The storm may rage without, but it cannot affect us if there is peace within.” – James Allen

I must admit, this recipe has been a long time coming. Not sure why it took me so long to post, but let’s just say it’s worth the wait.

It’s a new year, which means more people are trying to watch their waistlines than they were two months ago. For lots of people, this will mean cutting carbs and upping your foliage. Since rabbits and I have the same diet, I’ll try to be of service to you.

Over the last year, I became a fan of dehydrating things and making other stuff out of them. Like cauliflower and zucchini crust. Let me be frank here: I failed A LOT. So, rest assured that this recipe is the most fail-safe of them out there, and you can use the dehydration process to make not only tostadas but pizza crusts too. Now, they don’t taste like your normal tostada and pizza crust, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. In fact, they’re delicious! But I just want you to be prepared. Is there anything worse than thinking something tastes one way, and then it doesn’t?

1 orange pepper (optional, the Anaheim Ducks were also playing… it was a festive night in my kitchen. It can really be any kind of pepper, or none)

1/2 red onion (diced, optional)

1/2 cup cilantro (optional)

1 avocado (chopped, optional)

Grated cheese (your choice, it’s for the toppings!)

Wax or parchment paper

What You Do:

Okay, here’s the hardest part. Take the cauliflower and cut it up into pieces. Not small, but manageable. You can either put these in a food processor, or if you burnt yours out like I did, you can just use a grater. The gist is to get the cauliflower into tiny crumbles.

Put the cauliflower in a microwavable bowl, and micro it for 2 minutes, mix, 2 more minutes, mix, and 2 more minutes if you feel it’s necessary. Then, using a dishtowel or paper towels, get every remaining bit of water out of the cauliflower (this is crucial! If they’re wet you’ll have soggy tostadas and no one likes that).

Mix in the egg, and shape your tostadas on the wax paper.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through

While this is baking, you can heat up your beans in a pot. If you want to add even more flavor, mince a garlic clove, and add that along with chili powder. This isn’t a MUST DO though.

Then top with all of your goodies and you’re good to go!

Messiness – Lawdy! This can get pretty messy, especially when you’re shaping the tostadas. BUT let me just say that it’s TOTALLY worth it! Mostly, the messiest part is all of the separate dishes for the toppings though. If you can manage that, you’re in business.

Simplicity – Once you get this down, it’s really simple. No harder than making hamburger patties. However, if you’re an anti-microwave person, this may prove a little bit more difficult. I personally like to nuke stuff as little as possible, but frankly, it’s necessary with this recipe to get the most amount of water out (my refusal to do so is why I failed my first few attempts). But if you’re feeling determined, you can definitely wring out the cauliflower on your own (I just hope you’ve been saving up your elbow grease all day!).

Budget – Each of these ingredients shouldn’t be more than $1-2 no matter where you shop! And one cauliflower head will make a good amount of tostadas, as long as you aim for the normal corn tortilla size.

Delicious Factor – I have to reiterate here: these don’t taste like your normal tostadas, but they’re still great! So, as long as you have that in mind, you’re going to be just fine! And as far as healthy substitutes go, these are one of my favorites.